Phoenix­–The 2017Arizona school letter grades have been released and LD-6’s Senator Sylvia Allen’s charter school, the George Washington Academy, received an F grade. Senator Allen is the co-founder of the George Washington Academy, a kinder-6th grade school in Snowflake, Arizona, as well as the head of the Senate’s Education Committee.

Senator Allen is also on the payroll of George Washington Academy and EdKey, according to her 2016 and 2017 financial disclosure reports.[1]

EdKey, which goes by the name Sequoia Schools, operates George Washington Academy, and has not met the Arizona State Board on Charter School’s financial performance expectations. [2]

The rankings grade the quality of schools on an A-F scale and for elementary schools, rely heavily on how students performed on the AzMERIT test. The “F” grade is the lowest score a school can get.

“Senator Allen has for years preached the benefits of charter schools and vouchers for students and parents, but ironically the school she co-founded has gotten the lowest rating a school can get. This highlights the corrupt practice of Arizona legislators owning or running charter schools and passing legislation that directly benefits their bank accounts — while students suffer the consequences. The lack of accountability in Arizona charter schools has dire impacts on the children in those schools,” said Josselyn Berry, Co-Director at ProgressNow Arizona.